Location: Downtown Portland, Oregon
Size/Type: Studio, 250 square feet (at the most)
Length of Residence: 9 months
After graduating from college, I moved across the country to Portland, Oregon, on a whim, and rented a strange and tiny apartment. It was about 250-square feet, had a Murphy kitchen, and I was thrilled…
These three polaroids are the only photos I can find of that first apartment, though I must have prints or at least negatives somewhere, surely.
I wish I had a photo of the Murphy kitchen to show you — it was so handy, and so unreasonable. There was just enough space for me to put away my 1 bowl, 1 plate, and 1 glass, but the great thing was that even if every dish and pan was dirty, I could just close the whole thing up, hiding the mess behind floor-to-ceiling white doors.
There was an old intercom that you can see in the photo on the left. It was substantial, and old — I wonder how old that building was. The windows had that French-feeling wire embedded in the glass, and there were no window screens. Coming from the Midwest, this was a marvel to me. No mosquitos to battle, I can just throw the windows wide open? Such freedom.
The place was small, but it felt spacious because I didn't have much at all. I remember realizing that I only owned one thing that plugged in — my cell phone charger. There were wide shelves near the ceiling, so I kept everything I owned packed in nice white storage boxes, leaving the floor clear for me, my bed, and my bike. I spent ridiculous amounts of time putting all of my toiletries into plain bottles with handmade labels; I guess I still do that.
My soon-to-be best friend lived in the next apartment and we hung out the windows chatting with each other. We cooked dinner for each other, and I cat-sat her cat and watched her TV. It was a quiet, strange, lonely, wonderful time. I had little money and no idea what I wanted to do, or where I wanted to go next, or anything, really. But I loved Portland, and my little home, and took care of it as best I could.
Image: Tess Wilson
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Only one thing plugged in? Nice. I don't know if I could ever do that! Laptops, phones, lamps, tv, dvd....etc. Too much stuff.
Great and inspiring story, love seeing the photos people kept of their first places
I remember mine and my partners first place. It was a granny flat which was extremely rickety so it would be scorching hot in summer and icy in winter. I remember we would sit on our couch huddled together in the middle of winter and you could see our frosty breath but we were too poor to have the heater on. In summer we would be so unbearably hot we would turn the shower on cold (we didnt pay water) and sit in there for most of the day, bringing snacks back from the fridge to there hahaha..but I wouldn't change a thing, it all seems very romantic when you look back on it ten years later!